The adaptation of the best-selling novel has used Affleck’s tabloid-tarnished past to great effect — and an estimated $38 million debut.
Ben Affleck at the gala presentation of Gone Girl during the 52nd New York Film Festival on Sept. 26, 2014
Eduardo Munoz / Reuters
With an estimated $38 million domestic opening weekend, Gone Girl is proving itself to be just as much of a sensation as the best-selling novel on which it is based — especially for those involved in making it.
It is a career-best debut for director David Fincher, who has not had an outright hit like this since 2002's Panic Room. (When adjusting for ticket price inflation, in fact, Panic Room and Fincher's feature directing debut, 1992's Alien 3 , opened slightly better.) It's co-star Rosamund Pike's best opening weekend since her feature debut in the 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day . Neil Patrick Harris hasn't had a movie open this well since 1997's Starship Troopers, and that is only when adjusting for inflation. Even Tyler Perry has rarely seen box office this high — only his 2009 film Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail has done better. (OK, and 2009's Star Trek , but Perry only had a brief cameo.)
Gone Girl's box office success perhaps means the most, however, for Ben Affleck. The 42-year-old actor has been enjoying a career resurgence over the past few years as a director, culminating with his 2012 film Argo winning Best Picture. As an actor for hire, however, Affleck has struggled mightily since the $40.3 million debut of 2003's Daredevil, a career peak that tumbled just six short months later into the tabloid media maelstrom that was Gigli and his relationship with Jennifer Lopez.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in Gigli
Columbia Pictures
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